distort
verb/dɪˈstɔːt/
/dɪˈstɔːrt/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they distort | /dɪˈstɔːt/ /dɪˈstɔːrt/ |
| he / she / it distorts | /dɪˈstɔːts/ /dɪˈstɔːrts/ |
| past simple distorted | /dɪˈstɔːtɪd/ /dɪˈstɔːrtɪd/ |
| past participle distorted | /dɪˈstɔːtɪd/ /dɪˈstɔːrtɪd/ |
| -ing form distorting | /dɪˈstɔːtɪŋ/ /dɪˈstɔːrtɪŋ/ |
- distort something to change the shape, appearance or sound of something so that it is strange or not clear
- a fairground mirror that distorts your shape
- The loudspeaker seemed to distort his voice.
Definitions on the go
Look up any word in the dictionary offline, anytime, anywhere with the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app.
- distort something to change facts, ideas, etc. so that they are no longer correct or true
- Newspapers are often guilty of distorting the truth.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- grossly
- seriously
- severely
- …
Word Originlate 15th cent. (in the sense ‘twist to one side’): from Latin distort- ‘twisted apart’, from the verb distorquere, from dis- ‘apart’ + torquere ‘to twist’.
Check pronunciation:
distort